Page 14 of Storm Bound
“There you go, Mr. Carlyle. Call me when you’re free.”
I took the phone off his hand, my fingers lingering over his for a few moments as he beamed at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back.
“I sure will.”
And with that, we parted ways. Charlie went away with Luke, and I walked to the taxi stand and headed to Cedarwood Beach and my uncle’s house.
The weather was even worse down here. The rain was pouring heavily, and the wind made loud whooshes that sound downright apocalyptic. The only positive was the fact that traffic at this time and in this weather was minimal.
It was a little after six in the morning when I got to Uncle Noah’s, and he was already up and holding a cup of coffee when he answered the door.
“Good trip?” he asked.
Charlie’s face lightened up in my head, and I nodded. It was definitely the best just because he’d been there.
“Why are you up so early? I thought I was going to have to wake you,” I said.
Uncle Noah ushered me into his house, passed me a cup of the good stuff, then sat down at his kitchen table.
“Right. That,” he said, staring at his cup. “I’m going away.”
“What do you mean you’re going away? Away where?” I asked.
He looked up at me, and I sat opposite him.
“On a cruise. In Australia. It’s summer over there, and God knows I need it.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you’re up so early,” I said.
Uncle bit his lip and took a sip of his coffee. I copied him and had a drink of mine.
“I’m leaving today.”
“What?”I shouted, almost choking on my drink.
“I know. I’m sorry, son. I booked ages ago. I thought you’d already be here by now so I could have shown you everything, but this is an opportunity of a lifetime.”
I cleared my throat and put both hands on the table.
“Uncle, come on. You were supposed to do a handover and show me everything. You’re just going to leave me in the middle of nowhere with patients who have never seen me before in their lives and expect them to trust me?”
“What can I say?” he said.
It was true. There wasn’t much he could say that he hadn’t already.
I didn’t expect things to be smooth sailing from the get-go, but I trusted I’d have my uncle, at least at first. Taking over someone’s care was important. Especially in a small town like Cedarwood Beach, I imagined.
But this was Uncle Noah. The man who had abandoned everything and everyone when he turned forty because his mid-life crisis told him he couldn’t be married anymore. Or bother being an uncle or a brother anymore. It was typical Noah behavior. Upend his life and not care about the people he left behind. And now he seemed to be having a later-life crisis, and I was about to suffer the consequences.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this to me,” I told him as he stood at the door barely an hour later with a suitcase and a straw hat that was definitely not fitting for the weather raging outside.
He had shown me around the house, pointed out the keys to the office, told me the name of my secretary, and now he was ready to go on his grand adventure.
“Oh, come on, son. You’ll do great. You’re the best Chicago has ever seen. Better than me. You’ll do great here. The people of Cedarwood Beach are nice, welcoming folk. Just be careful of the rumor mill.”
“The what?” I asked, but Uncle was already out of there.
He opened the door and jumped into the cab he’d ordered, almost losing his straw hat to the wind.
